Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Using an old Bike Friday front rack on a tandem

Recently, I mounted an old Bike Friday New World Tourist front rack to our Bike Friday triplet and discovered that the lateral support bar was too short. Thinking about it afterward, it makes complete sense since the tandem fork is beefier and accepts wider tires.

The picture is somewhat misleading since without the lateral support, the front of the rack angled toward the wheel. But the appropriate support length is about 1 inch longer.

Unfortunately for me, Bike Friday has redesigned their front rack and no longer produces the appropriate length support. My solution was to use two spacers and a longer M6 screws to bridge the gap.

I've done a test ride with a moderately loaded pannier and it worked fine. For clarity, I used two steel spacers that measure 1/2" W, 1/4" ID, 3/8" ED with two 30 mm M6 screws.

About Me

I'm an economist that spends what little free time left after being a husband and father of two wonderful kids on examining "things of interest." Besides general current events, I have an interest in cycling and transportation issues.